Billy-Bob by Annette Defoort

Biography

Annette Defoort is a self-taught artist who doesn’t care about trends or fashion in art. The essence of her work is her two hands and the strength of the earth. The art of Annette Defoort consists in arbitrarily joining together different slices of clay which were cut into pieces. She builds up each sculpture from the inside and tries to treat the clay as seldom as possible on the outside. Her sculptures are archetypes of people and animals.
Every impression of perfection is consciously avoided: the rough, the unpolished, the non-planned and non-charming is maintained throughout the whole work. Spontaneity takes control of the process so that the sculpture builds itself without much interfering by the artist.

Defoort won the Sidney Myer Fund Ceramics Award in 2008. Her work has been included in collections around the world.

Overview of recent exhibitions

Group shows (selection):

2016 Galerie Saint-Rémy, Liege, Belgium

2015 Kunsthuis ApArt, Gullegem, Belgium
2015 Art Nocturne Knocke, Knokke, Belgium
2015 Galerie Evasion, Waremme, Belgium
2015 Sfeer, Gent, Belgium
2015 The International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy
2015 Affordable Art Fair, Tour & Taxis, Brussels
2015 OOkunst, Kortemark, Belgium
2015 ID-Art, Hamme, Belgium
2015 Kunstblik 2015, Ingelmunster, Belgium
2015 Ceramic Biennial 2015, Haacht, Belgium
2015 The Latem Gallery, St-Martens Latem, Belgium
2015 Galerie Alafran, Diepenheim, The Netherlands
2015 Galerie De Chêne, Merksplas, Belgium

2014 St.Art, Strasbourg, France
2014 Affordable Art Fair, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
2014 Art Zurich, Zurich, Switserland 
2014 Symbiosis, Leuven, Belgium
2014 The Latem Gallery, St-Martens Latem, Belgium
2014 Art Laren, Laren, The Netherlands
2014 Erfgoedhuis. St-Lucasgilde, Kortrijk, Belgium
2014 K-Art Kortrijk, Hotel Broel, Kortrijk, Belgium
2014 Nassauische Sparkasse, Wiesbaden, Germany
2014 Ten huize van Hans Kitslaar, Lochristi, Belgium
2014 Galerie Alafran, Diepenheim, The Netherlands
2014 Art Nocturne Knocke, Knokke, Belgium
2014 Art-Up Lille, Lille Grand Palais, France
2014 Keramikmuseum Westerwald, Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany 
2014 Kasteel van Izegem, Izegem, Belgium